THE UNIVERSITY ACT 1890.
VICTORIA.
ANNO QUINQUAGESIMO QUARTO
VICTORIA B E G I N S .
' No. MCLI.
An Act to consolidate the Law relating to the University of Melbourne.
[10th July, 1890.]
B
E it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Ma- jesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to (ay):—Short title I. This Act may be cited as " The University Act and com- 1890 " and shall come into operation on the first day menoement o f A u g u s t one thousand eight hundred and ninety.
Repeal .' 2. The Acts mentioned in the Schedule to this Act Schedule. to the extent to which the same are thereby expressed to be repealed are hereby repealed Provided that such repeal shall not affect any appointment election regulation or statute made or any degree diploma or . certificate given t>r. any licence granted or any lease
or mortgage entered into or executed under the said Acts or either of them before the commencement of this Act.
3. In this Act unless inconsistent with the subject- Meaning ot matter or context " G o v e r n o r " shall mean the officer "G o T e r n o r"
administering the Government of Victoria not acting under the advice of a Minister responsible to Parlia- ment.
4. A University consisting of a Council and Senate University is hereby declared to have been established a t Mel- to constat of bourne and shall be a body politic and corporate by the Jnd sJJSte.
name of " T h e University of Melbourne" and by ie via. No.
such name shall have perpetual succession and shall 34 s. i..
have a Common Seal and shall by the same name sue and be sued plead and be impleaded and answer and be answered unto in all Courts of Victoiia and shall be capable in law to take purchase and hold all goods chattels and personal property whatsoever and shall also be able and capable in law to receive take purchase and hold for ever not only such lands build- ings hereditaments and possessions as may from time to time be exclusively used and occupied by the immediate requirements, of the said University but also any other lands buildings hereditaments and possessions what- soever situate in Victoria or elsewhere and shall be able and capable in law to grant demise alien or other- wise dispose of all or any of the property real or Sersonal belonging to the said University and also to o all other matters and things incidental or appertain- ing to a body politic Provided that it shall not be lawful for the said University to alienate mortgage charge or demise any lands tenements or hereditaments of which it shall have become seised or to which it may become entitled by grant purchase or otherwise ' unless with the approval of the Governor and Execu- tive Council of Victoria for the time being except by - way of lease for any term not exceeding twenty-one "-' years from the time when such lease shall be made:
in and by which there shall be reserved during the -'•
whole of the term the highest rent that can be reason- ably obtained for the same without fine.
6. Every person who on the seventh day of June Tcnore of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one was and ofBce.of
" ^ ' ' • c e r t a l n m e m -
16 T H E UNIVERSITY ACT 1890.
hereof Coon- now is a member of the Council of the University cil. shall hold office during his life or until the occurrence sU^AalisV' *° '1'm °^ s o m e of"the events hereinafter mentioned as , 3, vacating seats in the Council.
Const! tntion of Council.
lb. s. 4.
Tenure of offloe of members of Council.
/*.«.».
Office ot member of
6. The Council shall be elected by the Senate of the University and shall consist of twenty male members Provided that notwithstanding any law to the contrary no person who holds any salaried office in the Univer- sity as a dean of faculty professor lecturer or examiner shall on that account be incapable of being elected and of serving as a member of the Council Provided also that the number of such officers iu the Council at the same time shall not exceed three.
7. Except as hereinbefore provided every member of the Council shall hold office for five years but shall be capable of re-election or re-appointment.
interested.
lb. s. 8.
Election of Chancellor and of Vice- Chancellor. . lb. t. 9.
" The Univer- sity Act 1881'
• s. 10.
8. If any member of the Council by writing under his I hand directed to the Chancellor of the University re- OotmoU n o w sign his office or if he be declared by commission or J ^ V e . ' otherwise of unsound mind or if he become insolvent or if he be convicted of any felony or misdemeanour or if without special leave previously granted by the Council he absent himself from all meetings of the same during six consecutive months bis office shall become vacant.
Vacancies "• Subject to such regulations as the Senate by its how filled, standing orders may from time to time provide it shall lb. s. 7. be la wful for members of the Senate to give their votes
a t elections by voting papers.
Members of 10. No member of the Council shall be entitled to Conncil not vote either in the Council or in any committee thereof iSfe.mSS618 o n a ny 8 U DJe c t in which he has a direct pecuniary in-
" " ° ° terest and the vote of any member so interested shall be disallowed.
I I . The Conncil shall elect two of its own members to be Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor respectively annually or whenever a vacancy occurs.-
12.. The Senate shall consist of all male persons who have been or who may hereafter be admitted to any Cusutation degree of doctor or master in the said University, of Senate.
13. The Senate shall elect one of its own members S6??0'1 °' to be Warden annually or whenever a vacancy, occurs. jf£"™J0-
14. All questions which shall come before the said Questions, Council or Senate respectively shall be decided by the iJw,£!J!id*£' majority of the members present and the chairman at 34 ,. 4.' any such meeting shall have a vote and in case of an equality of votes a casting vote and no question shall be decided at any meeting of the said Council unless six members thereof be present or at any meeting of the said Senate unless twenty members thereof be present.
15. At every meeting of the Council the Chancellor Chalnnan- or in his absence the Vice-Chancellor shall preside as Jjiip °J. . Chairman and at every meeting of the Senate the senate.
Warden shall preside as Chairman and in the absence of lb. s. 6.
the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor the members of the Council present and in the absence of the Warden the members of the Senate present shall elect a Chairman.
16. The said Council shall have full power to appoint Council to and dismiss all Professors Officers and Servants of the JJJJUJgSJ.*1"
said University and shall have the entire management ment ot the and superintendence over the affairs concerns and pro- University, perty thereof subject to the statutes and regulations of **• * 6"
the said University, (a) The last pre- ceding sec- 17. Nothing in the last preceding section shall be *££££ *£,..
deemed either to restrict the power of the University tain powers to make any statute or regulation for the good govern- ot the lini- ment thereof or to impose upon the Council any duty VSSfy inconsistent with any such statute or regulation. ^ y Actum"
s. 13.
18. The said Council shall have full power to make Council to and alter any statutes and regulations (so as the same " H *6 8 t?-
' tutes, with approval of the Senate.
(a) At a visitation held at the University on July 16th, 1871, by 16 Vict. No.
His Excellency Viscount Canterbury as visitor, assisted by Moles- S4 s. 7.
worth, J., the visitor said, " I think that the words (subject to the.
statues and regulations of the said University * apply to the whole >
of the powers vested in the Council by this section and 1 am of opinion, therefore, it must be held that the founder contemplated the enactment, hy the constituted authorities, of statues or regula- tions which would be binding on the Conncil in the exercise by them of any or all of the powers thus vested In them. In the absence of any statute or regulation to the contrary, the Council may exercise, according to their discretion, all the powers vested In them by this section."—See S AJ.K., 91.
1 8 T H E UNIVERSITY ACT 1890.
b e n o t r e p u g n a n t t o a n y e x i s t i n g l a w o r t o t h e p r o - visions of t h i s A c t ) t o u c h i n g t h e d i s c i p l i n e of t h e s a i d U n i v e r s i t y t h e n u m b e r s t i p e n d a n d m a n n e r of a p p o i n t - - m e n t a n d d i s m i s s a l of t h e Officers (a) t h e r e o f t h e m a t r i - c u l a t i o n of s t u d e n t s t h e e x a m i n a t i o n for F e l l o w s h i p s S c h o l a r s h i p s P r i z e s E x h i b i t i o n s D e g r e e s o r H o n o u r s a n d t h e g r a n t i n g of t h e s a m e r e s p e c t i v e l y t h e fees t o b e c h a r g e d for m a t r i c u l a t i o n o r for a n y s u c h e x a m i n a t i o n o r d e g r e e t h e l e c t u r e s o r classes of t h e P r o f e s s o r s a n d t h e fees t o b e d e m a n d e d b y t h e m t h e m a n n e r a n d t i m e of c o n v e n i n g t h e m e e t i n g s of t h e s a i d C o u n c i l a n d S e n a t e a n d in g e n e r a l t o u c h i n g a l l o t h e r m a t t e r s w h a t - soever r e g a r d i n g t h e s a i d U n i v e r s i t y P r o v i d e d a l w a y s t h a t n o n e w s t a t u t e o r r e g u l a t i o n o r a l t e r a t i o n o r r e p e a l of a n y e x i s t i n g s t a t u t e s h a l l b e of a n y force u n t i l a p p r o v e d b y t h e S e n a t e . (6)
(n) /Vr the visitor (u6i suprti) " I run of opinion that the word,
4 officers * as used in the 7th section of the Act (t-ection H of this Act) includes professors and that this the 7th section therefore authorizes the enactment of all the statutes or regulations contem- plated as possible or probable in the preceding section (the sixth), for the word 'officers* is unquestionably sufficiently large to em- brace professors, and the Act contemplates stipends for the pro- fesjjoTs, and unless statutes could be made under section 7 for the regulation of these stipends they could not be regulated at'all..
But while I am of opinion that it is competent for the constituted authorities to regulate by statute the number, stipend, and manner of appointment and dismissal of the professors as well as of the other officers of the University, I do not think that the words ' shall have full power' at the commencement of the 7th section of the Act by themselves render it absolutely imperative on those in whom the power of making statutes or regulations is thus vested to Increase that power. And I am of opinion that in the absence of any statute or regulation to the contrary, the Council may exercise, according to their discretion, all the powers vested in them by the - 6th section of the Act."—See 2 A.JJL. 91.
(6) By the visitor (ubi supra) " I cannot discover in the Act of incorporation any provision investing the Conncil and senate with equal authority on any one subject or any sign that it was the in- tention of the founder that this equality should exist; on the contrary. It is, I think, clear that by the Act of Incorporation executive and administrative functions are vested tn the Council alone. The exercise by the Conncil of their executive and ad- ministrative powers is controlled or controllable by the University statutes (made or" to be mode) as well as, of course, by the law of Victoria, and in passing such statutes the senate has a voice. But the legislative powers vested in the senate are not co-ordinate with those of the Council; for it is for the Council to frame and initiate every statute, while the power of the senate is limited to the accept- ance or rejection, as they may think fit, of the statutes which may be presented to them by the Council." By a later Act power of amendment is given, see section 1». —See 2 A.J.R., 92.
19. The Senate may amend any statute or regulation Senate may submitted by the Council for their approval and may no^oriJniBte return the same so amended for the further considera- statutes, tion of the Council but shall not originate any statute " The VnUer-
or regulation. sUyAetim"
20. I t shall be lawful for the said University to C o U' 2 ? ? W make any statutes for the affiliation to or connection ^ 3 ^ ^ ? ' with the same of any College or Educational Establish- |ng Houses ment to which the governing body of such College or licensed.
Establishment may consent and for the licensing and *| v^'- *["•
supervision of Boarding Houses intended for the recep- tion of students and the revocation of such licenses Provided always that no such statutes shall affect the religious observances or regulations enforced in such Colleges Educational Establishments or Boarding Houses.
21. All such statutes and regulations as aforesaid statutes to shall be reduced to writing and the Common Seol of the beaUowedby said University having oeen affixed thereto shall / j " ™ ^0' be submitted to the Governor to be allowed and countersigned by him and if so allowed and coun- tersigned shall be binding upon all persons members of the said University and upon all candidates for degrees to be conferred by the same and the production of a verified copy of any such statutes and regulations under the said Seal shall be sufficient evidence of the authen- ticity of the some in all Courts of Justice,
22. Every student being an undergraduate shall Students during such terms of residence as the said University J^JeJjJ^
may by statute appoint dwell with his parent or guar- during term.
dian or with some near relative or friend selected by lb. s. 11.
his parent or guardian and approved by the Chancellor - or Vice-Chancellor or in some Collegiate or Educa- tional Establishment affiliated to or in connection with the University or in a Boarding House licensed as aforesaid.
23. No religions test shall be administered to any No rel{^°4' person in order to entitle him to be admitted as a J ^ J U ^ a student of the said University or to hold office therein /».,. 12.
or to graduate thereat or t o hold any advantage or privilege thereof.
2 0 THE UNIVERSITY ACT 1890.
18 Viet. No. 24. I t shall be lawful for the Governor by warrant Bnd 1 3 o t u n (^e r his hand addressed to the Treasurer of Victoria to direct to be issued and paid out of the General Revenue the sum of Nine Thousand Pounds iu every year as a fund for maintaining the said University and for defraying the several stipends which may be appointed to be paid to the several Professors Officers and Servants to be appointed by such University and for defraying the expenses of such Fellowships Scholar- ships Prizes and Exhibitions as. shall be awarded for the encouragement of students in such University and for providing a Library for the same and for discharg- ing all necessary charges connected with the manage- ment thereof.
Whatde- 25. Subject to the statutes and regulations of the
g t eT ™ t ' * University the Council may ofter examination confer in '
^ne"uniter- a ay Faculty except Divinity any degree diploma certi- f y Ad 1881" ficate or license which con now be conferred by any
». 14. University in the British Dominions Provided that the University may moke such statutes or regulations as it thinks fit for the admission without examination to any S. such degree of any person who may have graduated a t i ' any other University Provided also that all persons who at the time of the passing of " The University Act 1881 " have been admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Laws may subject to the statutes of the University as soon as they have been during five years engaged in the practice of their profession as barristers or attorneys be admitted without further examination to the degree of Master of Laws.
This Act to - 26. The provisions of this Act shall except as afore- both'seres. " " ^ e x t e n" *° D o t'1 sexes and every person who has lb. i. U. fulfilled the conditions prescribed by the statutes and regulations of the University for t h e time being for matriculation or for admission to any degree diploma certificate or license may be admitted to matriculate or to such degree or may receive such diploma certifi- cate or license as the cose may be But the Council- may if it thinks fit exclude females from attendance at any lectures but not from any examination in the University.
Council to 27- The Council shall in every year report the pro- report annn ceedings of the University during the previous year to
the Governor and such report shall contain a full ally to the account of the income and expenditure of the said S?T{SOT'„
University audited in such manner as the Governor 34 , ^ may direct and a copy of every such report and of oil « hie Unlrer- the statutes and regulations of the University allowed sity Act leal"
as aforesaid by the Governor shall be laid in each year ' - ' ' before the Legislative Council and the Legislative
28. The Governor of Victoria for the time being Governor to shall be the Visitor of the said University and shall be Visitor.
have authority to do all things which appertain to J J / ^ ' Visitors as often as to him shall seem meet.
SCHEDULE. Section S.
Date ot A c t 16 Vict. No. 31
44 Vict No. 091
Title or Act.
"An Act to Incorporate and Endow the Unicer- sity of Melbourne."
'• The Vnicersily Act 1881"
Extent of Repeal.
So much as is not already repealed.
The whole.
